Global

Finland is World’s Happiest

The Finns are always smiling. The 10th annual World Happiness Report has found that Finland is the happiest country in the world, out of around 150 nations examined.

The report’s authors noted, “Past reports have looked at the links between people’s trust in government and institutions with happiness. The findings demonstrate that communities with high levels of trust are happier and more resilient in the face of a wide range of crises. This year’s report comes in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has upended lives around the world.”

John F. Helliwell, a Canadian economist and the editor of the World Happiness Report, said, “We found during 2021 remarkable worldwide growth in all three acts of kindness monitored in the Gallup World Poll.

“Helping strangers, volunteering, and donations in 2021 were strongly up in every part of the world, reaching levels almost 25% above their pre-pandemic prevalence. This surge of benevolence, which was especially great for the helping of strangers, provides powerful evidence that people respond to help others in need, creating in the process more happiness for the beneficiaries, good examples for others to follow, and better lives for themselves.”

The top ten happiest nations in the world were, in order, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, Norway, Israel, and New Zealand. Following them were Austria, Australia, Ireland, Germany, and Canada. The United States rose from 19th place in 2021 to 16th in 2022.

Israel, which ranked in ninth place, achieved its highest-ever ranking this year, after rising from 14th place in 2020 to 12th in 2021.

Guess which countries are the least happy? The ten lowest-ranking countries on the list were Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Lesotho, Botswana, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, and Lebanon. Afghanistan came in last place.

Zelensky Open to Talks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that he is ready to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but warned that if any negotiation attempts fail, it could mean the fight between the two countries would lead to “a third World War.”

“I’m ready for negotiations with him. I was ready for the last two years. And I think that without negotiations, we cannot end this war,” Zelensky told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria in an interview on Sunday morning.

“If there’s just 1% chance for us to stop this war, I think that we need to take this chance. We need to do that. I can tell you about the result of this negotiations — in any case, we are losing people on a daily basis, innocent people on the ground,” he said.

He continued, “Russian forces have come to exterminate us, to kill us. And we can demonstrate that the dignity of our people and our army that we are able to deal a powerful blow, we are able to strike back. But, unfortunately, our dignity is not going to preserve the lives. So, I think we have to use any format, any chance in order to have a possibility of negotiating, possibility of talking to Putin. But if these attempts fail, that would mean that this is a third World War.”

Over the weekend, the Russian military claimed that it had launched a series of strikes on military targets in Ukraine employing hypersonic and cruise missiles on Saturday night and Sunday morning. Still, Russian forces have not managed to gain control over Ukraine’s airspace.

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An art school being used as a shelter in the besieged city of Mariupol was bombed by Russian forces over the weekend.

About 400 people were sheltering in the building, which was destroyed in the attack.

On Wednesday, Russia bombed a theater in the city that was being used as a shelter. A satellite image showed twothirds of the building had been completely destroyed. The theater was clearly marked with the word “children” in large Russian writing visible from the air. Estimates of how many people were inside at the time of the attack range from 800 to 1,300.

As Mariupol lays in rubble, citizens of the battered city are being taken to Russian territory against their will by Russian forces, according to the Mariupol city council. Captured residents were taken to camps where Russian forces checked their phones and documents, the council said. They were then redirected to remote Russian cities.

Mariupol is under almost constant bombardment, according to a major in Ukraine’s army, and residents are rationing food and water as bodies are left in the streets. Zelensky said what Russian forces have done to Mariupol is an “act of terror that will be remembered for centuries.”

132 Dead in Chinese Plane Crash

A Chinese plane carrying 132 people on Monday crashed into a mountainous area in China’s southern province of Guangxi. So far, no survivors have been found.

The plane, a Boeing 737-800, was operated by China Eastern Airlines. It crashed Monday afternoon with 123 passengers and nine crew members on board, China’s Civil Aviation Administration said.

On Tuesday morning, CCTV said, “Wreckage of the plane was found at the scene, but up until now, none of those aboard the plane with whom contact was lost have been found.”

The crash is China’s worst aerial disaster in a decade and sparked a fire large enough to be seen on NASA satellite images. The fire was later extinguished.

Xinhua News Agency quoted rescuers as saying that only debris from the wreck had been found at the crash site.

China Eastern Flight 5735 was flying at 29,000 feet when it entered a steep, fast dive around 2:20 p.m. local time, according to data from FlightRadar24.com. The plane plunged to 7,400 feet before briefly regaining about 1,200 feet in altitude, then dove again. The plane stopped transmitting data 96 seconds after starting to dive.

China Eastern said, “The cause of the plane crash is still under investigation, and the company will actively cooperate with relevant investigations. The company expresses its deep condolences to the passengers and crew members who died in the plane crash.”

Boeing CEO David Calhoun added, “We are deeply saddened by the news of the accident involving a China Eastern Airlines 737-800 airplane. The thoughts of all of us at Boeing are with the passengers and crew members on Flight MU 5735, as well as their families and loved ones.”

The crash site is remote, accessible only by foot and motorcycle, in Guangxi, a semitropical region of mountains and rivers famed for some of China’s most spectacular scenery.

China Eastern’s last fatal crash was in November 2004, when a bombardier CRJ200 plunged into a frozen lake just after takeoff from the Inner Mongolian city of Baotou, killing 53 people on board and two on the ground. Regulators blamed ice that had collected on the wings.

Cameroon Conflict Spilling into Nigeria

Residents of Manga, Nigeria, are suffering from the separatist conflict in neighboring Cameroon.

The Cameroon conflict began five years ago. Armed forces struggle to secure the border between the two countries. At times, Cameroon separatists and security

16 forces have carried out raids, attacks on villages, and illegal arrests in Nigeria. According to residents, on November The Jewish Home | MARCH 24, 2022 17, 2021, approximately 50 armed separatists crossed into Manga from Cameroon, killing five people in the village, including its 70-year-old chief. Two days prior, around 30 people from Cameroon had taken refuge in Manga, after their own village was attacked. Over one million Cameroonians have fled their homes and over 6,000 have been killed since the start of the war in October 2017. The war broke out when militants declared an independent state.

Since then, over 250 villages have been destroyed.

Construction Halted in South Africa

A judge in South Africa has halted a $270 million real estate project, insisting that indigenous people must be consulted before resuming construction.

The project, which would include a regional headquarters for Amazon, was planned for construction on land which indigenous consider to be sacred land.

In her ruling, Judge Patricia Goliath said that Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust (LLPT) must stop construction immediately pending “proper and meaningful consultation” with the Khoi and San indigenous populations.

“This matter ultimately concerns the rights of indigenous peoples,” Goliath stressed in the ruling.

She added that the ruling, which requires consultation, “should not be construed as criticism against the development” but that indigenous people have rights which outweigh economic considerations.

“The fact that the development has substantial economic, infrastructural, and public benefits can never override the fundamental rights of First Nations Peoples,” she explained. “The current tension amongst First Nations Groups strengthens the need for meaningful engagement and proper consultation.”

In a statement, LLPT said it was “deeply disappointed” by the ruling and was considering its options. It claimed the project would create over 6,000 jobs.

Russian Cosmonauts Launch to ISS

Three Russian cosmonauts on Friday took off for the International Space Station (ISS) amid tensions in their country over the war in Ukraine.

Cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev, and Sergey Korsakov launched aboard a Soyuz rocket and capsule at 11:55 a.m. ET from Russia’s spaceport in southern Kazakhstan. They are expected to spend around six-and-a-half months living and working at the ISS, replacing three of the seven crew members currently at the space station.

Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei are slated to return to Earth in a Soyuz capsule on March 30.

Despite the war raging in Ukraine, a March 14 article published by TASS confirmed that Vande Hei will return as planned, on the Soyuz capsule.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said on Monday in a video town hall that the space agency continues “to work with all our international partners to continue safe operation of the ISS.”

“We have been meeting almost daily for three weeks to ensure the safe operations of the ISS,” Nelson added.

Putin Speech Cut Off

The Kremlin said a technical glitch was behind the interrupted transmission of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s speech to a packed Moscow stadium to mark the eighth anniversary of Crimea’s annexation.

Russian state television suddenly cut away from Putin hailing what Russia calls its special operation in Ukraine and the bravery of its soldiers to show patriotic songs being played at the event instead.

It later aired the full speech, which ended a few seconds after the cutaway with Putin leaving the stage as thousands of spectators waved Russian flags at the 80,000-capacity Luzhniki stadium.

Cited by RIA news agency, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a server glitch had caused the interruption.

Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24 in an effort to degrade its southern neighbor’s military capabilities and root out people it called dangerous nationalists.

Russia Bans FB, Instagram

A Moscow court banned Facebook and Instagram on Monday for what it deemed extremist activity in a case against their parent company, Meta.

The Tverskoy District Court fulfilled a request from prosecutors to outlaw Meta Platforms Inc. and banned Facebook and Instagram for what they called “extremist activities.” Russian prosecutors have accused the social media platforms of ignoring government requests to remove what they described as fake news about Russian military actions in Ukraine and calls for anti-war protests in Russia.

The court’s ruling bans Meta from opening offices and doing business in Russia.

Prosecutors haven’t requested to ban the Meta-owned messaging service WhatsApp, which is widely popular in Russia. The authorities also emphasized that they do not intend to punish individual Russians who use Facebook or Instagram.

18 Instagram and Facebook were already blocked in Russia after the country’s communications and media regThe Jewish Home | MARCH 24, 2022 ulator Roskomnadzor said they were being used to call for violence against Russian soldiers. In addition to blocking Facebook and Instagram, Russian authorities also have shut access to foreign media websites, including BBC, the U.S. government-funded Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, and Latvia-based website Meduza. Continuing the effort, Roskomnadzor on Monday blocked the website of Euronews, a European news network. The regulator has also cut Euronews broadcasts. The court’s verdict comes amid multipronged efforts by Russian authorities to control the message about Russia’s military action in Ukraine, which the Kremlin describes as a “special military operation” intended to uproot alleged “neo-Nazi nationalists.” A new law fast-tracked on March 4 by the Kremlin-controlled parliament, a week after Russia launched the attack on

Ukraine, envisions prison terms of up to 15 years for posting “fake” information about the military that differs from the official narrative.

Long Live Trudeau

Canada’s Justin Trudeau has brokered a deal with the left-learning New Democrats that will keep his minority Liberal government in power until 2025.

The Canadian prime minister announced on Tuesday a formal entente that will see the NDP vote with his Liberal minority government on shared objectives until the House of Commons rises in June 2025. Canada’s next fixed election date is Oct. 25, 2025.

“I’ve thought long and hard about this,” Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa. “It was not an easy decision. With so much instability around us, Canadians need stability.”

The “supply and confidence agreement” covers policy areas where the parties have shared objectives, such as climate, housing and health care. The center-left Liberals, Trudeau added, will seek support elsewhere when it comes to other issues like defense.

The agreement comes months after Trudeau failed in a second-straight election to recapture a majority grip on Parliament he won in 2015.

Since 2019, his Liberals have had to earn the support of opposition parties to pass legislation and keep his government afloat.

As news broke late Monday about the Liberal-NDP arrangement, Conservative rivals moved quickly to accuse Trudeau of a power grab.

“They’ve cooked up a backroom deal that would see Justin Trudeau get the majority power that he tried desperately to get last fall, in the last election, but he failed to get,” Conservative interim leader Candice Bergen told a press conference Tuesday. “This deal means that Canadians have woken up to, in essence, an NDP-Liberal majority government.”

Later Tuesday, Trudeau’s office released a document that lays out shared priority areas where the Liberals and NDP are expected to join forces to pass legislation.

The agreement covers a wide range of issues, including the creation of dental care for low-income Canadians, more progress on a national pharma-care program, additional investments in Indigenous housing, and identifying ways to further accelerate Canada’s path to net-zero emissions no later than 2050.

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Navalny Sentenced to 9 Years

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was convicted of fraud and contempt of court and sentenced to nine years in a maximum security prison on Tuesday, in a trial Kremlin critics see as an attempt to keep President Vladimir Putin’s most ardent foe in prison for as long as possible.

A judge also ruled that Navalny would have to pay a fine of 1.2 million rubles (about $11,500). Navalny can appeal the ruling.

Navalny, who is already serving 2½ years in a penal colony east of Moscow, had been accused of embezzling money that he and his foundation raised over the years and of insulting a judge during a previous trial.

The politician has rejected the allegations as politically motivated. The prosecution had asked for 13 years in a maximum security prison for the anti-corruption crusader and a 1.2 million-ruble fine.

The trial, which opened about a month ago, unfolded in a makeshift courtroom in the prison colony hours away from Moscow where Navalny is serving a sentence for parole violations. Navalny’s supporters have criticized the authorities’ decision to move the proceedings there from a courthouse in Moscow, saying it has effectively limited access to the proceedings for the media and supporters.

Navalny, 45, was arrested in January 2021 immediately upon his return from Germany, where he spent five months convalescing from a poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin, a claim Russian officials vehemently denied. Shortly after the arrest, a court sentenced him to 2½ years in prison over the parole violations stemming from a 2014 suspended sentence in a fraud case that Navalny insists was politically driven.

Following Navalny’s imprisonment, authorities unleashed a sweeping crackdown on his associates and supporters. Navalny’s closest allies have left Russia after facing multiple criminal charges. His Foundation for Fighting Corruption and a network of nearly 40 regional offices were outlawed as extremist — a designation that exposes people involved to prosecution.

Last month, Russian officials added Navalny and a number of his associates to a state registry of extremists and terrorists.

Syria’s Assad Visits UAE

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday in what is believed to be his first trip to an Arab nation since the Syrian civil war began in 2011.

Upon his arrival in Dubai, Assad met with UAE Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum at his rest house in Al Marmoom.

According to a statement by Assad’s office, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, who is also the ruler of Dubai, “welcomed the visit of President Assad and the accompanying delegation, which comes within the framework of the brotherly relations between the two countries, expressing his sincere wishes for Syria and its people that security and peace prevail throughout the region, and that stability and prosperity prevail throughout the region for the good and development of all.”

The statement continued, “The meeting dealt with the overall relations between the two countries and the prospects for expanding the circle of bilateral cooperation, especially at the economic, investment, and commercial levels, in a way that lives up to the aspirations of the two brotherly peoples.”

Assad also met with UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi.

UAE’s de facto ruler was quoted as saying, “The visit comes within the framework of the common concern to continue consultation and fraternal coordination between the two countries on various issues, stressing that Syria is an essential pillar of Arab security, and therefore the UAE position is consistent in its support for the unity Syrian territory and its stability, stressing the need for the withdrawal of all foreign forces illegally present on Syrian territory, and expressed the UAE’s keenness to enhance cooperation with Syria in areas that achieve the aspirations of the two brotherly peoples.”

Assad, for his part, was related by his office to have emphasized that “the UAE is a country that plays a major role in view of the balanced policies that it pursues towards international issues, pointing out that the world is changing and moving for a long time towards a state of instability.

“Therefore, to protect our region, we must continue to adhere to our principles, the sovereignty of our countries and the interests of our peoples.”

Syria’s president has made few international trips since his country’s long and bloody civil war began in March 2011, which the United Nations says has so far killed 350,000 people. Until now, Assad has only left his country to visit Russia and Iran – both backers of his regime.

The United States said it was “profoundly disappointed and troubled” by the UAE’s decision to welcome Assad, as the United States believes that normalizing relations with Assad should come only after the civil war in his country is resolved.

“We urge states considering engagement with the Assad regime to weigh carefully the horrific atrocities visited by the regime on the Syrians over the last decade,” said U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price.

Along with the majority of Arab states, the UAE broke ties with Syria soon after the civil war erupted and once backed rebel fighters in its attempts to overthrow Assad’s regime. But in recent years, relations between the two countries have gradually improved, with the UAE spearheading efforts to bring Syria back into the Arab fold despite protests from Washington.

Assisting Those in Afghanistan

The United Nations Security Council last week agreed to renew its assistance mission to Afghanistan for another year. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had described the situation in the wartorn nation in January as “hanging by a thread.”

Christopher Miller, who served as Acting Secretary of Defense under former U.S. President Donald Trump and was one of the first officers to lead troops into Afghanistan after 9/11, noted, “The Russian play in Ukraine is directly related to the weakness and incompetence we displayed to the world with our tragically flawed withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“The Chinese, North Koreans and Iranians took note. We are in the most dangerous geo-strategic situation since the Cuban missile crisis.”

He added that, in his opinion, the U.S. withdrawal was “an absolute disgrace, and I’m ashamed personally and professionally at how we left our Afghan allies in such a desperate situation. It was completely preventable.”

He noted, “Our adversaries noted our fecklessness, and we couldn’t have provided them more powerful ammunition to create dissension with our allies and partners.… We’re going to be dealing with the blowback on our ham-handed, disastrous withdrawal for the next 20 years – I’d hate to be a military man or diplomat trying to convince a potential partner to work with us.”

The U.S. should support “anyone or group in Afghanistan that wishes to es-

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tablish a meaningful government that can create opportunity and justice for the Afghan people,” he said.

“The Afghan people are enormously industrious and rugged, and Afghanistan has a large amount of natural resources that could be developed – they just need meaningful leadership.”

China undoubtedly is looking to insert itself into Afghanistan, as it bides its time to see how things play out.

Against this backdrop, the people of Afghanistan are suffering. Women and girls, in particular, along with those of religious and minority groups, are hurt the most. People are starving; some even have sold their kidneys to put bread on the table.

A Christian man who fled to the United States recently said that Christians are ruthlessly targeted by the Taliban.

“If a Talib knows you are an Afghan Christian, that’s a great blessing for him to kill you,” he said.

Afghanistan recently topped North Korea as the worst country in the world for Christian persecution.

An Undercover Glimpse into Iran

An Iranian dissident has filmed a series of reports from Tehran for Israeli television, depicting the country’s cratering economy, frustrated residents, drug abuse and immoral industries.

Channel 12 said the first report in the series, broadcast on Sunday, marked the first time cameras working for Israeli television had operated in Iran since the ayatollahs took power in 1979.

The dissident said he took the risk of walking around the capital Tehran with the camera, usually hidden, to document daily life, out of a feeling of “revenge” against the regime.

The people interviewed had their faces and voices distorted for safety.

“To our sorrow, we don’t have independence here, there’s no freedom, no democracy and no normal life. There is dictatorship, theft and crime. I know what I’m doing, and it’s definitely very dangerous,” the cameraman said.

“I know the consequences of my actions. You have to stand and fight, and not give up. I hope that soon Iran will be freed from the dictators,” he said.

The average Iranian’s main daily concern is cost of living, the report said. International sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program and government policies have caused soaring inflation.

The cameraman visited one of Tehran’s main shopping areas to gauge public sentiment in the crowded alleys packed with shoppers and storefronts. A shopkeeper told him a set of dishes he sold for 6 million rials four years ago now costs 40 million ($960).

“A satisfied belly cannot understand a hungry one. The leaders live well in their ivory towers, but we here are the living dead. A person dies once and gets buried, but we are dying every day here,” one resident said.

Traffic and air pollution are other leading concerns for most Tehran residents, the report said.

The cameraman visited Tehran’s more wealthy, northern area, filming its manicured parks and monuments. People there more secular and easygoing, and less supportive of the regime.

The government’s religious edicts there were not strictly enforced — some women did not wear hijabs, or did not wear them properly, and if asked, will tell police they fell off, the report said. Street performers play music they are not supposed to play, and the children of wealthy Iranians hold parties by paying off local police.

Tehran’s subway system appeared well-maintained and modern and is reportedly used by millions every day to access most areas of the city, the video showed. The sprawling metropolis has some 8.7 million people.

The south of the city is more conservative, religious and poor, and more supportive of the regime. At night, the area was crowded with drug users sitting on the sidewalk, huddled over small fires.

Another resident said that on one of Tehran’s “drug streets,” there were 2,000 to 3,000 users at a time.

“No one’s coming to tell them anything, but if you dare to drink a cup of alcohol and go out on the street, they catch you, put you in prison and beat you,” he said.

Heroin and opium are prevalent. Many women become addicted because their lives are more difficult in Iran than those of men.